The producers of the period drama "Leonie" -- shot partly in New Orleans -- aren't shy about invoking "the Merchant Ivory tradition" in describing their film, and it's not an entirely unreasonable comparison. Here is a richly produced period drama, one built on equal parts emotion, fine costumes, lush images of far-flung places, and weeping violins for musical accompaniment.

What "Leonie" is missing, however -- in its script, in its performances, really in everything about it -- is any hint of sparkle, any sort of compelling hook on which to hang its hat. It is a capably produced film, one that dutifully includes all the requirements one would expect of a solid period drama -- but rarely more than just that.

It's a touch ironic, really. Here's a film seemingly dedicated to adhering to the genre blueprint -- while at the same time telling a story about artist and architect Isamu Noguchi, a man whose outside-the-box way of thinking was arguably among his most distinguishing attributes.

It's not quite accurate, however, to say that director Hisako Matsui's film -- which opens Friday (April 19) for a weeklong run at the Zeitgeist Multi-Disciplinary Arts Center -- tells Noguchi's story. Rather, it's more about his American mother, Leonie Gilmore, a woman whose sense of independence, strength and self-reliance were relative rarities in her time.

Pregnant and unmarried? No problem. Opportunity awaits in Japan? Pack the bags -- a steamer awaits. Romantic discord with her Japanese lover? See you, sucker. That sort of inner strength is now seen as an undeniably admirable trait, but it was something closer to scandalous in her time. But then, Leonie was a woman ahead of her time. What's more, as Matsui suggests, those attributes in her also helped shape Noguchi into the free-thinker he was.

And therein lies the meat of "Leonie," which Matsui shot in 2009 in New Orleans, California and Japan (with New Orleans doubling as turn-of-the-20th-century New York and Pennsylvania, among other places). Yes, it's another story about the great woman behind a great man, but it's also a portrait of a woman who was intriguingly unafraid to challenge social mores.

She didn't do it out of social consciousness, though, or out of a deep-seated activist streak. She did it because it needed to be done, plain and simple -- and damn the torpedoes. Inspiring and courageous stuff, that.

Leonie is played in the film by Emily Mortimer ("Hugo," "Lars and the Real Girl"), who -- despite her tendency to lapse into something approximating a Katherine Hepburn impression -- turns in a good performance. But, like everything about Matsui's film, it is only good, rarely more. And so by the end of it all, while we get to know Leonie's story, we never really get to know Leonie the woman.

Noguchi's fans are a loyal lot, though -- so they can probably be counted on to take the trip to the theater see "Leonie," anyway. It's hard to imagine, however, that appreciators of such an envelope-pushing man would be entirely satisfied by such a staid affair.

________

LEONIE2 stars, out of 5

Snapshot: A period drama about Leonie Gilmour, the mother of artist and architect Isamu Noguchi.

What works: It's a solidly produced film, with nicely handled period flourishes.

What doesn't: It's a mostly sparkle-free affair, sticking so closely to the genre blueprint as to be generic.